Tolkien Estate Sues New Line Cinema (Failure to Pay Royalties Apparently)

Yahoo! News (AP) ^ | 2/11/2008 | Alex Veiga

[Cheburashka]

Forth from the gate burst a hundred thousand rabid narcs swinging bicycle chains and tire irons, followed by drooling divisions of pop-eyed changelings, deranged zombies, and distempered werewolves. At their shoulders marched eight score heavily armored griffins, three thousand goose-stepping mummies, and a column of abominable snowmen on motorized bobsleds; at their flanks tramped six companies of slavering ghouls, eighty parched vampires in white tie, and the Phantom of the Opera. Above them the sky was blackened by the dark shapes of vicious pelicans, houseflies the size of two-car garages, and Rodan the Flying Monster. Through the portals streamed more foes of various forms and descriptions, including a six-legged diplodocus, the Loch Ness Monster, King Kong, Godzilla, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Beast with 1,000,000 Eyes, the Brain from Planet Arous, three different subphyla of giant insects, the Thing, It, She, Them, and the Blob. The great tumult of their charge could have waked the dead, were they not already bringing up the rear.

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Sounds like the Democrat convention in late summer.

[MarkL]

If the contract was for payment to be made based on profit, we all know that they would never see a dime. However, the contract appears to be based on the "gross." Now if New Line prove they had no "gross" that would indeed be an accounting miracle. I hope this goes to a jury and the jury slams New Line.

If it's on the gross, I'll be happy to sign an affadavit stating that I saw each movie twice in the theaters, and then bought the special, extended edition DVD sets as well. Just from that, I figure that I spent over $120 over 3 years on those movies.

Mark

[MarkL]

The movies were pretty good, though I was disappointed that they cut out Tom Bombadil. They did stay relatively true to the tales though, and kept a good sense of right/wrong and good/evil.

What really got me was leaving out the "scourging of the shire," although it was alluded to in Loth Lorien (and seen in the bounty at the sack of Eisengard), as something that might come to be. It seemed to me that was terribly important in showing that the typical Hobbit attitude (keep to yourselves, and nothing bad will happen to you) just doesn't work when confronting evil.

I always felt that this was a major point of the allegory, and leaving it out left out a major point of the tail.

Mark

[Verloona Ti]

I don’t have a copy of the book handy, but my favorite line was when a character died, and the boggies danced a “Jig of mourning”.

[Pilsner]

I'm still waiting for a movie or three based on The Silmarillion.

[mowowie]

A lot of actors from the old shows got jipped.
The Giligans Island guys got paid once for the initial airing of an episode and for something like 2 subsequent airings of repeats of that particular episode. After that the studio made a fortune on decades of repeats while the actors made zilch.

[MissouriConservative]

“The MPAA are such fine, upstanding people, so concerned about respecting copyright”

Yep. They will sue your pants off and take all your money if you download a movie and don’t pay. Now they are not paying the owner of a copyright. Wonder how this will play out in court. A person being sued by the MPAA can point out the hypocrisy and should walk away free as a bird.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

There was a great story I read once. Some writer saw Adolph Zukor, the founder of Paramount, in the commissary celebrating something like his 96th birthday (he lived to be 103 and died in 1976), and Zukor was busting a gut laughing at how he'd screwed Mark Twain on a story deal.

Twas ever thus.

[tumblindice]

And the Ents still want their women.

[Hegewisch Dupa]

They have been sporting wood for quite a while now...

[Azeem]

At least we have another Star Wars movie coming August 15th. At least the animated characters will go with the stale dialogue.

Unless someone OTHER than Lucas wrote it.

[tumblindice]

It’s that Morning Wood Elf playing Cupid again . . .

[discostu]

All the production houses have a problem with paying out, rightly owed or not they just plain don’t like writing checks.

[discostu]

They’re always like that. According to Warner Brothers Babylon 5 is still in the red, forget the fact that the show cost $1 million an episode to make and the DVDs have hauled in well over $500 million (then there’s the initial broadcast fees, syndication fees, and merchandising), B5 is still in the red, just ask them.

[Telepathic Intruder]

Star Wars, huh? And then Star Trek in December. I’m sure they’ll screw them both up, though. Hollywood just can’t do anything right anymore...

[Azeem]

Animated Clone Wars movie:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-02-11-clone-wars-main_N.htm

[steve-b]

Time for New Line to re-jigger the books so that they don't show a profit.

Maybe they can switch the labels on the Lord of the Rings ledgers and the The Golden Compass ledgers.

[AppyPappy]

“The only thing in this world more mythical than hobbits are residuals in Hollywood.”

True or not?

[steve-b]

This ring, no other, was made by the elves
Who'd pawn their own mother to grab it themselves
Ruler of creeper, mortal, and scallop
This is a sleeper that packs quite a wallop
The power almighty rests in this Lone Ring
The power, alrighty, for doing your Own Thing
If broken or busted, it cannot be remade
If found, send to Sorhed (the postage is prepaid)

[Deb]

Residuals are what allows continued life and happiness in Hollywood. It's the percentage of merchandising and net grosses that are mythical.

According to New Line and Warner Bros. the LOTR trilogy has never shown a profit. I know. I get the yearly "reports".